About this episode
My Christmas cactus plant is going on 10 years old I think. It’s been repotted a couple of times and it’s huge. For the most part, I don’t have to do much, in fact I think sometimes I overwater it, but it perseveres. A couple months ago I went to move it over so I could water it and a piece fell off. It was pretty big, a couple of inches long with 2 little branches. I don’t know why but I picked it up and stuck it into some potting soil in a tiny pot. It looked terrible. I had my doubts it was going to make it. I didn’t really notice it for a week or so and then the next time I looked, it had sprouted new growth and now I think even the tiny piece that broke off is going to bloom. It’s my reminder that 1. Nature doesn’t need me hovering over it to grow and thrive and 2. Sometimes broken things turn into something new. Sometimes, hope looks like this: unexpected growth in the places we weren’t paying attention to. We can try so hard to force progress. To fix it. To rush it. To manage every outcome. But growth has its own timing. Healing has its own rhythm. Maybe the thing you’re worried about just needs a little space. A shift. A moment without pressure. Today’s hope: things can revive—even when you’ve almost given up on them.